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ExpertVM - $6.99 256MB OpenVZ VPS in Singapore

ExpertVM Michael from ExpertVM introduced to me their low end VPS brand that has just been launched this month. ExpertVM is part of SecureAX Internet which has been around since 2007. Plans start at $40/year for “S1”. If you are thinking of monthly billing, “S2” is $6.99/month which comes with

  • 256MB memory
  • 20GB storage
  • 40GB/month data transfer on 2Mbps
  • OpenVZ

PayPal subscription is the only option here. Here is the link to sign up — actually it goes to a “pre signup page” where the basic rules are explained in point form, which is quite well done. Yes the bandwidth is a bit pathetic, but then again the servers are not in US nor in EU, but in Singapore with Epsilon, according to SecureAX’s data center page. Definitely one of few providers here with an Asian presence. Singapore is also quite a telecommunication hub in SE Asia. However, again the offer is let down by the throttled bandwidth and very limited monthly data.

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

37 Comments

  1. Only 40 gigs of transfer? That’s not a whole lot. I wounder if it’s a restriction of the datacenter being in Singapore or if they’re that worry about overages from their clients maxing out their own allocation. Of even if they plan on using overages charged to their clients as a profit source. Not saying that they are doing that last one but we’ve had folks here who have done so previously.

    I’m torn on the “Support is only for billing issues” point. know I;ve bounced questions about box health or suggestions off of Quickweb before. I guess they wouldn’t allow such with their service.

    No IRC. That’ll turn some folks off.

    September 25, 2011 @ 1:30 pm | Reply
    • 40GB on 2Mbps shared port =D

      September 25, 2011 @ 3:00 pm | Reply
    • Some = probably less than 10% of the people on here.

      You do realize if you use SSL on 6697 or 9999, it bypasses the “no IRC” policy?

      September 25, 2011 @ 5:39 pm | Reply
      • rm:

        Bypassing the stated policy via technical means is never a good idea, unless you don’t care about your VPS being killed with no refund.

        September 25, 2011 @ 5:46 pm | Reply
        • Or you could make an issue about it on here and whine about a provider not having a friendly IRC policy which no intelligent provider will even support. I’m sure Francisco from BuyVM can give you some IRC stories about the reasons why IRC is prohibited

          September 25, 2011 @ 5:53 pm | Reply
        • Spirit:

          “You do realize if you use SSL on 6697 or 9999, it bypasses the “no IRC” policy”

          No, Joseph, I do not as most servers don’t support SSL connections. Even most servers from the biggest IRC networks – so why do you generalize this? Beside that in many cases IRC usage also means to host IRC related files which some no-irc-allowed-hosts see as enough big reason to terminate account. It’s not worth to bother as there around is more than enough hosts which allow IRC.

          btw. I can’t see anyone winning regarding no-IRC policy here.. you’re most likely replyed in wrong thread.

          September 25, 2011 @ 6:15 pm | Reply
        • Francisco:

          http://expertvm.com/pre-signup.php?id=3

          No spam, public VPN/proxy, torrent, adult content, IRC, copyrighted material/illegal file sharing and storage within our network

          September 25, 2011 @ 6:18 pm | Reply
  2. rm:

    Do not cancel the Paypal subscription unless you want to terminate/change your VPS package. Terminating Paypal subscription results in termination of your VPS at the end of its billing cycle.

    I wonder why they care how their customers manage their Paypal account, as long as their bills are paid on time.

    E.g. I do not like subscriptions, do not use them, and my Paypal-linked card may not even have any balance most of the time (it’s a separate card for use just on the internet).

    September 25, 2011 @ 1:44 pm | Reply
    • circus:

      Yeah, and I don’t even have paypal-linked card.

      September 25, 2011 @ 2:21 pm | Reply
    • I would think that it would send them a notice about a subscriptions being canceled.

      I actually have to consider that a +1 as we’ve had many commenters here complain about how they’ve had their accounts canceled as soon as they have canceled their subscriptions. At least this provider puts it in writing that they’ll go to the end of the period.

      September 25, 2011 @ 3:01 pm | Reply
      • rm:

        I would think that it would send them a notice about a subscriptions being canceled.

        Yes it would. So?

        It’s none of their business and does not mean the user plans to not use the service further, paying each invoice manually.

        September 25, 2011 @ 3:04 pm | Reply
        • It’s their business because a subscription is a legal contract with two parties on each side. If one cancels, the other party is notified.

          In this case though, they’re probably dealing or trying to deal with those folks who sign up, create a subscription and then cancel it trying to0 stay under the radar. I’ve had a few of those….

          September 25, 2011 @ 3:15 pm | Reply
        • rm:

          a subscription is a legal contract with two parties on each side

          Nope it’s not. A paypal subscription is just a convenient (for some) automation feature like /etc/crontab but for payments. Nothing more. Perhaps that’s the root of the problem, they misunderstand this in the same way as you do.

          September 25, 2011 @ 3:26 pm | Reply
        • rm:

          then cancel it trying to0 stay under the radar.

          WHMCS auto-generates an invoice at the end of the billing period, if the invoice is not paid within a short period, the service is auto-terminated. Paypal subscription, or lack of it, can not help anyone avoid that, so I have no idea about which ‘radar’ you are even talking about.

          September 25, 2011 @ 3:31 pm | Reply
        • Spirit:

          @rm is right here. Subcription is just the way how someone mananage own payments. It’s not a concern of a merchant/host.
          I prefer not to use it because double payments mistake as I usually process my paypal payments manually.

          September 25, 2011 @ 4:10 pm | Reply
        • Spirit:

          I mean subscription is between me and paypal not between me and host. Host need to get paid before overdue date, that’s all – but what’s inside my paypal (my personal paypal settings, pre approved payment authorizations, etc..) should not be a concern of a host.

          September 25, 2011 @ 4:15 pm | Reply
  3. Ben:

    And they want email to release their test IP…. A lot too much!

    It’s true that it’s nearly impossible to find any kind of “Low End Box” like around here, but I will not start with them!

    September 25, 2011 @ 2:54 pm | Reply
    • Spirit:

      Yeah, we should keep some standards! :P

      September 25, 2011 @ 3:02 pm | Reply
    • Takes a total of two seconds to post it once someone finds out what it is. :)

      September 25, 2011 @ 3:16 pm | Reply
  4. I think I pay cheaper on my home DSL, and get more bandwidth and a faster connection.

    September 25, 2011 @ 3:59 pm | Reply
    • ab:

      Do you not know how much international non-IX bandwidth in singapore costs

      September 25, 2011 @ 4:04 pm | Reply
  5. Francisco:

    I have a small VPS with SecureAX since 03-December-2010. Uptime is ~100Mbps and customer service is top notch. Michael Foo is a very educated person and pays great attention to promptly send emails to all customers explaining with detail any service interruption even issues during a few seconds. Any scheduled maintenance is informed many days ahead and allways takes very short time to be done.

    Regarding the 2Mbps it is the usual in the APAC considering the network quality and the VPS price.

    September 25, 2011 @ 4:21 pm | Reply
    • Francisco:

      Correction: Uptime is ~100%. :-)

      September 25, 2011 @ 4:21 pm | Reply
    • Francisco:

      Some data from my regular SecureAX VPS, not the ExpertVM VPS featured in this thread.

      sg:~# date
      Wed Sep 14 18:52:08 UTC 2011
      
      sg:~# uptime
       18:52:12 up 99 days, 22:13,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
      
      sg:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
      16384+0 records in
      16384+0 records out
      1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 16.861 s, 63.7 MB/s
      
      sg:~# wget -O /dev/null http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
      --2011-09-14 18:55:47--  http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
      Resolving cachefly.cachefly.net... 204.93.150.150
      Connecting to cachefly.cachefly.net|204.93.150.150|:80... connected.
      HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
      Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream]
      Saving to: `/dev/null'
      
      24% [=============>                                             ] 26,186,705  4.60M/s  eta 20s
      
      September 25, 2011 @ 4:30 pm | Reply
  6. Hi everyone,
    Thanks for the valuable feedback. We have taken your suggestion into consideration carefully and we have decided to remove the Paypal subscription requirement, which we initially thought would be convenient to the customer.

    By the way, basic support (hostnode related) comes with ExpertVM services though this point is not explicitly highlighted on our website.

    Thank you!

    September 26, 2011 @ 2:22 am | Reply
  7. Tan:

    May I request a test IP?

    September 26, 2011 @ 3:02 am | Reply
  8. Ricky:

    I won’t give a try.
    Waiting for a better provider in Singapore with better TOS..
    The paypal-subscription part is total nonsense to me.

    September 26, 2011 @ 3:14 am | Reply
    • Bob:

      Yep, being in Singapore it could have better TOS for sure…

      September 26, 2011 @ 6:45 am | Reply
    • We have refine our TOS, do let ExpertVM has the opportunity to serve you

      September 26, 2011 @ 4:25 pm | Reply
      • Ricky:

        Cancellation of Paypal Subscription payment will result in instant cancellation of account which includes termination of services and billing account.

        Unfortunately, this term is still there…

        September 26, 2011 @ 5:49 pm | Reply
  9. PNS Watch:

    How about bandwidth to/from indonesia? Also 2Mbps?

    September 26, 2011 @ 3:30 pm | Reply
    • Our advertised bandwidth is international bandwidth so to answer to your question, yes. Thanks!

      September 27, 2011 @ 1:36 am | Reply
  10. Anas:

    how about tun/tap for private vpn? is it already available or we have to request it?

    October 1, 2011 @ 6:25 am | Reply
    • These plans support tun/tap but you will need to submit a ticket to us to request for it. Thanks!

      October 2, 2011 @ 12:18 pm | Reply

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